A man spent four months living in the same home as the decomposing body of his dead father for four months. The elderly father sat dead in an armchair in the living room, an inquest heard. Nobody was aware of the death of 94-year-old Kenneth until a neighbour spotted a skeleton in pyjamas sat in the armchair next to his son Timonthy Brown (59) who was watching TV.
Timothy claimed his dad had died from a fall during a bedroom blaze in their home in Stafford in June last year. He had been his dad’s sole carer for ten years. Timothy placed his dead father’s body in the armchair and carried on with his life as normal.
The neighbour said in a statement: “The back door was open, from the kitchen I could hear the TV was on loudly in the living room. Tim was in there watching TV. I spoke to Tim for a few minutes from the hall, before I opened the door fully. As I looked at the chair I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. I could see a skull, I was very shocked.”
Timothy was arrested for offences of concealing a body and preventing a burial. Detectives decided that it was not in the public interest to bring charges.
Det Con Andrew Weatherley told the hearing “Unfortunately Timothy didn’t call the emergency services. He couldn’t come to terms with the fact his father had passed away. The pair had led a reclusive life together and were very close. He had left his father there over the course of several months and just lived with it. He realised he should have reported the death but couldn’t bring himself to do it. There was no obvious motive for him to cause the death of his father and it was decided he should not face criminal charges. At the end of the day he had lost his father. There was no motive to cause the death of his father.”
A post mortem examination could not find a cause of death as the body was too badly decomposed. However a number of fractures to Mr Brown’s ribs were noted. Fire investigators concluded that the injuries were caused when the elderly man fell out of bed after his faulty electric heater caught fire.